I just started reading this book and I'm enjoying it so far. Didn't realize how far along they were with the production of the film, already having a full cast and possibly release date. Could be a huge hit. More thoughts when I finish Book 1. ...

This could be great, particularly with some of the casting decisions. All the child actors are proven and all coming off of strong performances in big films (Hugo, True Grit). What worries me is that the actual good parts of the book (imo), won't translate well into film. Elements of the fantasy game and the Bugger homeworld exploration could easily be not represented well in the film, or even left out completely as they're not really important plot-wise. Leaving out things like those are what could make this story a bit one-dimensional and not wholly impressive in terms of science fiction nowadays...

Not to mention that I'm apprehensive of how they'll handle the characters aging in the film (Ender is supposed to start off as a six year old and end up being 13 by the climax(?))

They got the kid from Hugo but all I can picture is that boy from Looper. Hailee Steinfeld is maybe Valentine (but probably Petra?), great young actress either way.

I assume this is reliable, IMDb has her set as playing Petra, with Abigail Breslin (Girl from Little Miss Sunshine/Zombieland) playing Valentine. As I say, all the casting choices seem potentially great. A lot of young talent there.

I would have pictured Looper boy as Bean, seeing as he is actually quite young. But hownow, it's all there on the imdb page done and dusted.

It's been about two years since I've read the book, so I'm a little hazy on the characters and everything. This was definitely one of my favorite books ever, so I'm very excited to see the film. This was a pleasant surprise to read!

I've never read the book but I saw the trailer earlier today and it was not good. I was kind of excited about this movie since I heard it was science fiction. But the trailer was horribly bland. Nothing was eye catching or interesting about it. It really killed my desire to see this movie.

Trailer looks alright. One thing I'm quite glad of is that they aged the characters a bit. It won't really have that same suspension of belief that was required in the books (nor the impact of it) but I think it would have made the movie somewhat less serious. Pretty keen to see how they handle the competitive simulation 'game'. That has the potential to be quite visually stunning.

MC edit: I just watched it again and something jumped out at me.

Spoiler: MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS

Highlight this box with your cursor to read the spoiler text.Was that the bugger homeworld blowing up at the end of the trailer there? Movies need to stop giving away important plot points in the trailers. If I hadn't read the book I'd be watching the movie and knowing that at some point he's going to blow up a planet.

I wonder if they'll even use the term 'buggers" to describe the aliens to try and keep it a little more PC? In the trailer they just call them "the aliens".

Spoiler: MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS

Was that the bugger homeworld blowing up at the end of the trailer there? Movies need to stop giving away important plot points in the trailers. If I hadn't read the book I'd be watching the movie and knowing that at some point he's going to blow up a planet.

I wonder if they'll even use the term 'buggers" to describe the aliens to try and keep it a little more PC? In the trailer they just call them "the aliens".

I too dislike trailers that either give away important plot points, feature scenes that aren't in the film, or mislead the viewer. As much as I like Bridge to Terabithia, the trailer misleads people into thinking it is about some alternate fantasy world, rather than it being imagination and all that.